Bridging the Gap Between Christ and Culture

Even though I don ?t feel it, I am coming to grips with the reality that I ?m getting older. I ?m not ready to say that I ?m old, but now that the ?oldies ? radio stations are playing Billy Joel and Elton John, I can see that the culture may be passing me by. And that ?s OK.

The fact of the matter is that culture is always changing. Nobody recognizes that more than the church ?sometimes it seems like our right or duty as Christians to point that out every chance we can. Unfortunately, nobody fights it as much as the church. Despite our awareness of how quickly culture changes all around us, we are more likely to complain about it or insulate ourselves from it than to adapt to it.

Now before anyone worries about ?watering down ? the Gospel message or any of God ?s Truth found in his Word, consider the words of Jesus in John 16:33: ?In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. ? Jesus warned his disciples that they would face trouble; times were changing for them. But he wanted them to be encouraged by the fact that his victory was over culture as well.

Here ?s where it gets tough. God is who he is; that won ?t change. The Bible is what it is; that won ?t change. Our mission ?to love God and others and to make disciples ?will never change. Culture, however, will always change, and we can ?t do much about that. What we can do is adapt our methods to bridge the gap between Christ and culture. We need to rely on the strong foundations of our faith and the Bible and do whatever needs to be done to connect the lost people living in this changing culture to the One who never changes. While the seven last words of the church may be ?We never did it that way before, ? the scariest words may be ?I ?ve got an idea! ? Let us take Jesus at his word and not be afraid of the changes but trust him as we bridge the gap between Christ and culture.